You Could Be Happy
by BabyBrown
Summary: Thirty years have passed.  What has become of Jude and Tommy?
1. Some Kind of Feeling

**_Hey guys! I wasn't able to sleep because this idea kept running in my mind. It's a really short fic with only six parts. Each part gets longer and longer. I hope you like it! It's very different from the other fics I've written._**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Instant Star, its characters or 'You Could Be Happy' by Snow Patrol. I Do own the story and new characters mentioned. _**

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_**Their love was supposed to last forever. They didn't know that forever would end so soon. Thirty years passed by and they never spoke. Many believed that each had moved on. They had each gotten married, had children with their spouses and never spoke about each other. 

One day Jude was pulled from her sleep by the sound of a ringing phone. She heard the man next to her mumble a few choice words before getting up. Jude stared at the ceiling as she felt her husband's weight leave the bed. There was a feeling that she couldn't shake. It was with her when she went to sleep the night before and had kept her from sleeping peacefully. Her chest felt tight, as if an invisible force was crushing it. She tried to explain it to her husband but he waved it off as something she ate.

Jude continued to stare at the ceiling, watching as the early sunlight moved across it. Tilting her head to the side, she glanced at the clock. It was only six am. She wondered who would be calling at this hour on a Sunday. There was that feeling again, only now it was paired with a strange sense of panic. Hearing her husband speak louder into the phone, she sat up and walked to the door. Pressing her ear against the door, she strained to hear his words in the next room, her curiosity peaking. She first heard the beep of the phone as he ended the call, then the sound of his footsteps moving towards their bedroom. Not even bothering to move she waited for her husband to open the door.

One look at her husband's face and she knew. Without a word spoken, she knew.

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_**So what do you think? Should I post the rest of it up?**_


	2. Momentos of Years Past

"Jude?"

Larry waved his hand in front of her face. After he had told her the news it was if her eyes seemed to glaze over, like she was no longer there with him in their bedroom. "Jude

honey? Are you okay?" Jude turned around and walked into the closet they shared. He could hear her rustling, moving things around. He was about to follow her when shoes

started flying out. Shielding himself, he moved closer to the closet. "Jude? What are you doing?" He watched as she knelt on the floor, frantically searching for something hidden

inside one of the many shoe boxes on the ground. "Where is it?" She kept repeating, oblivious to the fact that her husband was yelling at her. When she found the right box, she

slowly stood and walked right past her husband. He had grabbed her arm forcibly trying to bring her back to him. She pulled her arm away and carefully sat on the bed. Opening it,

Larry watched as she pulled out a black heel, then watched as Jude put her hand inside the shoe pulling out an old ring. Larry felt a strange tug in his stomach. He suddenly realized

why the name sounded so familiar. Suddenly Jude stood and changed into a pair of jeans and a worn t-shirt and walked out the room. Larry watched her leave in shock. He then

heard the sound of keys rustling and her car starting a couple minutes later.

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**_Really short, I know but I promise there are longer posts ahead :) _**

**_Please review!_**


	3. Old Friends

**_Wow, thanks for all your reviews! You guys are awesome! I was worried that this wouldn't have been any good because it's not like anything I've written before._**

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She felt nothing.

The cold harsh wind hit her face and she hardly noticed it. All she could think about was getting there as fast as she could. A small part of her knew that leaving Larry like that was wrong. She knew she should have at least given him an explanation as to why she had to go. _'It would have been a waste of time. He never would have understood_.' So with that thought, she pushed all guilt out of her mind. Speeding down the highway, old memories began to flash before her eyes. Memories from years ago, believed to have been lost. Picking up her phone, she began to dial.

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Reaching her destination, she quickly checks that the address on the house before her matched the one on her hand. Jude gets out of the car and slowly walks towards the front porch. With a raised hand, she hesitantly knocks on the door and waits. The door swings open and she is greeted by an old friend. _"**Jude**."_

Time had been good to Kwest. He had had a blessed life, married a wonderful woman named Kaylee and had two beautiful daughters. Jude watched as he stepped forward with arms wide open. She hardly felt his long arms as they wrapped around her small frame. Looking up into his face she saw the sadness in his eyes. _**"Is it true?" "Yes"**_ he said, nodding slowly as if it pained him to do so. _**"When?"**_ He grabbed onto her shoulder _"**Why don't you come inside? Have some coffee." "Sure**_." Jude stepped into the house, unanswered questions racing through her mind.


	4. What Happened?

_Part 4_

The loud hissing of the coffee pot brought Jude out from her mind. She looked across the table and saw Kwest's caring eyes staring back at her. She hated that he was looking at her with pity. It was not what she wanted, all she wanted was to know. _"When did it happen_?" Kwest let out a breath. This was not what he wanted to be doing. He never thought that he would be in this position. "_Last night. Around nine." "Oh_." A couple seconds of silence passed as he waited for her next question. _"How did it happen?" "Lung Cancer. He was only fifty-four."_ Anger flowed through her veins. How many times had she told him that smoking would one day kill him? Whenever they were having a rough day where nothing was sounding right, he would reach into his pocket and bring out a cigarette. Disgusted, Jude would always snatch it from his lips and throw it away.

_"How long?" "He found out five years ago and we thought he was in remission but it had spread_." She watched as his face began to frown. "_The doctors said there was nothing else they could do._" Jude could feel Kwest's hurt as he relieved painful memories. Reaching across the table, Jude placed one of her hands on his. They stayed there in silence until the coffee machine beeped. Kwest stood from his chair and walked across the kitchen to the counter. He heard Jude's chair scrape backwards across the floor and watched her move towards the large window. The kitchen was in the back of the house with a view of a lake. She looked across the lake and could see the distant shape of mountains in the background. _"It's a beautiful view_" Kwest nodded _"Kaylee had grown up in the mountains so I wanted something to remind her of her home." "Where is she?"_ Kwest returned his attention to serving the coffee._ "She went to Marie's house. The girls are with her."_ Jude nodded. _"I was actually headed there before you came. Would you like to come with me?" "I don't think I should._" Kwest silently nodded. "_How's Marie doing?"_ Kwest could tell it had taken a big part of her to ask. _"She's doing the best she can right now. She's strong."_ Shaking his head Kwest said _"I don't know if I could be that strong, if anything had happened to Kaylee_." Jude watched as the sun moved higher in the sky, shining bright. She realized she hated the sun.

_"I felt it."_

Kwest turned around quickly. _"What?"_ Jude continued to look out the window_ "I felt it."_ She then faced Kwest, confusion evident on his face. "_Last night, I knew something was wrong. I felt it here._" Jude pressed a hand against her chest, right over her heart. Kwest took a deep breath and Jude could see in his face that he was thinking. She watched as he came to a silent decision. "_I've got something for you. Don't move_." Jude nodded and continued to look out the window.

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**_Only two updates left!!_**


	5. Gifts from the Dead

Part 5

When Kwest returned to the room, he noticed that Jude was no longer standing by the window. Sitting at the table with her back towards him, he pushed himself further into the room hoping he was doing the right thing. Slowly, he set the object in his hands onto the table in front of her. _"He gave this to me before he got married. He told me he didn't want Marie finding it so he gave it to me for safe-keeping."_ Jude stared at the box. "_He never told me what was in it and I never asked_." Frowning, Jude looked up at Kwest. _"So why are you giving it to me?"_ She watched as he shrugged his shoulders "_It just feels like the right thing to do. I'll be in the next room_." He didn't wait for her response as he quickly walked out the room.

Returning her attention to the box, she noticed a small mark on the side of it. Leaning closer she realized it was their symbol. When they first started dating, Tommy would send her little notes. She remembered finding them in the most random places; wedged in between the seats in her car, attached to cups of coffee, once even in a balloon which she had to pop in order to get the note. She had asked him why he sent them. Jude remembered Tommy had shrugged it off and denied it. _"Maybe it's from a secret admirer"_ he would say, a secret smile on his lips. At the end of every note he signed it the same way; two small hearts enter twined.

Slowly raising a hand to her face, she felt the warm droplets running down her face. She turned her attention to the unopened box, fearful of what could be inside. With one hand, she slowly moved it over the box. Memorizing every single moment. Jude lifted one of the flaps and immediately saw white. Moving her hand inside the box, she pushed aside the packaging material for whatever was inside. She began to get impatient when her hand could not find anything in the box. Frustrated, she tilted the box upside down, letting all the contents spill onto the floor. In the sea of white, she saw red. Looking at her feet, she saw a red piece of fabric wrapped around something square. She placed the box back on the table and slowly bent down to retrieve it. Standing up, she unraveled the fabric. Inside lay a CD. Ignoring the mess she had made, she walked out of the kitchen and into her car. She carefully put the CD on the seat next to her and backed out of the driveway without even saying goodbye

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**_only one update left!_**


	6. You Could Be Happy

_Part 6 _

Shutting the engine off, Jude looked out her windshield. A small wind had picked up outside causing ripples on the lake's surface. Glancing to the side, she picked up the CD. Only four words were scrawled onto the CD. Jude opened the case and placed _'You Could Be Happy'_ into her car's CD player. Her breath caught in her throat as his voice flowed through the speakers. _"The date is November fifteenth 2009. 'You could be happy' take one." _That voice, one she hadn't heard from in thirty years, could still grab a hold of her heart. She recognized the date and felt a lump in her throat. That was a month after they had broken up for reasons she was now seeing as foolish. "_Who's it for?"_ another voice had said. She could hear Tommy's deep breath before responding _"For her, always for her." _Silence had followed his words and she panicked, scared that this was some cruel joke and that the CD was blank. She froze when she heard it. Something resembling a lullaby began to play, his soft voice soon followed.

_**You could be happy and I won't know **_

_**But you weren't happy the day I watched you go **_

_They had gotten married after two years. She was only twenty years old, he twenty seven._

_**And all the things that I wish I had not said **_

_**Are played in loops til it's madness in my head **_

_Life had been perfect. She had made two more platinum records and was excited to make another when Tommy asked her._

_**Is it too late to remind you how we were **_

_**And not our last days of silent screaming blur **_

_He was starting to get older and wanted kids. He knew how important her music was to her but he didn't want to wait any longer. _

_**Most of what I remember makes me sure **_

_**I should've stopped you from walking out the door **_

_She refused, wanting to focus completely on her work. She wanted to wait a couple more years._

_They had a huge fight and after that everything began to fall apart. _

_**You could be happy **_

_**I hope you are **_

_They became more distant, both working late into the night in order to avoid the other._

_**You made me happier than I'd been by far **_

_**Somehow everything I own smells of you **_

_**And for the tiniest moment it's all not true **_

_Jude's tour was what finally tore them apart. Four months apart was not what they needed. _

_**Do the things that you always wanted to **_

_**Without me there to hold you back don't think just do **_

_When Jude returned, they realized they both wanted different things. He wanted to start a family, she wanted to continue her career. _

_**More than anything I want to see you girl **_

_**Take a glorious bite out of the whole world**_

The soft drums fade out and Jude is left in silence again. Removing the CD, she looked at it in disbelief. She thought of all the time they had wasted. Years they could have spent filled with love together instead of the years they had apart. Almost two years after the split, she had heard from Kwest that he had gotten married again. Her name was Marie and they were living in the states. It wasn't until she heard of his marriage that she realized she had made a huge mistake. For years after she lived with regret.

Jude placed the CD back into the case and left her car. Walking towards the lake's edge, she glanced up towards the sky. The CD case fell to the ground as she dropped to her knees, apologies coming from her lips and tears flowing down her cheeks. She looked down at the CD case and noticed a small piece of paper had been hidden inside. Picking up the slip of paper, she recognized his handwriting. After reading the note, she felt a strange sense of peace fill her being. She picked herself off the ground and held the paper against her heart. Jude closed her eyes as a light breeze blew around her. She looked up into the clear blue sky once again and smiled.

"_**In spite of everything, I'll always love you. I still do."**_


End file.
